


Paper Bags and Plastic Hearts

by seungsols



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - After College/University, Gen, Platonic Relationships, Slice of Life, i never explicitly say it but they love each other one way or another
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-02
Updated: 2018-03-02
Packaged: 2019-03-26 01:21:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13847061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seungsols/pseuds/seungsols
Summary: Three boys like exploring cities, cultures, and each other’s lives.





	Paper Bags and Plastic Hearts

**** Chan was casually walking towards the pier as the sun was about to set. It was a beautiful setting and the atmosphere was doused in complacency. It was a weekday, so he wasn’t expecting many people to be around him, but the crowd that was seemed to be friendlier and warmer than the last time he was on the pier. It’s been a while though, a lot changed. 

He pulled out his phone and saw it was a quarter until seven. Looking around, he saw that neither of his friends were on the pier yet. Chan decided to walk around on his own, admiring the nostalgia that surrounded him: the ferris wheel, the knick knack shops, and the smell of fried street food accompanied with the vendors shouting in advertisement. Pausing at a bench, he sat down and pulled his backpack off and placed it on his lap. He opened the zipper and pulled out his camera. It might be a while until the other two come over so he might as well start taking pictures.

With the backpack back on his back and the camera promptly in his hands, Chan knew he looked like a dumb and naive tourist, but he could care less. He couldn’t miss out on the opportunity to capture this moment. He adjusted the camera settings for the golden hour light and started with taking pictures of the stands and people passing by. The pictures gave off a retro and vintage vibe with the filter used. Chan would make sure to enhance that once he edited the pictures tonight.

He turned around and screamed when he saw a nose through the camera lense. Hansol laughed and pulled back as Chan put the camera down and sighed in relief and frowned in flounce. “Hyung, that was uncalled for!”

Hansol shrugged. “Not my fault you’re easy to scare.” He smiled as Chan mocked his words verbatim as he put his camera away. Hansol lifted the paper bag up to Chan’s view before they both crouched down as Hansol opened the bag. “I went to a farmer’s market today.”

 

Unlike Chan, Hansol typically zoned out the world around him in exchange for lyrical poetry and a catchy beat to fill his own world. He typically walked around by himself and is usually found with earphones plugged in with his phone shoved into his pocket. It didn't pull back from his wandering though. In fact, it rather enhanced his experience. 

Because of this, he was usually known for roaming without a daily schedule. The contribution he does for the team is usually take care of at the beginning and end of their journeys, giving him free time in between. The other two took care of tasks while Hansol focused on writing his own lyrical poetry through his thoughts and observations. It's been a hobby of his for a while now, but he hopes it'll take him somewhere. Eventually.

 

Chan looked up and tilted his head at his older friend rather surprised. “Really? Isn’t that what Seungkwan usually does?”

“Yeah,” Hansol hummed as he pulled out a few antiques, “but he wanted me to do it. Guess he’s busy with something else. Oh, look at this cool watch I found!” He dangled in from its chain as it swayed side to side, Chan oohed in awe as it reminded him of a grandfather clock.

“How much was it?” Chan asked as he kept looking through the items. They were both sitting on the pier boardwalk, not caring if and how people were looking at them. “It seems like it’d be worth a lot.”

“I’ll say,” Hansol snickered. “Once we clean it up a bit, I think we can sell it for a good price.”

“Sell what for a good price?” Seungkwan asked as his head was hovering over Chan’s shoulder. He quickly dodged the fist Chan threw behind his back out of fright, whining when he saw his older friend. “Sorry, Chan. You’re really easy to scare and it’s pretty fun.” Chan rolled his eyes as Seungkwan sat down with them. “Oh, you got a lot.”

 

Being the eldest of the three, Seungkwan felt responsible for both Chan and Hansol. Despite the them all being close in age, Seungkwan held the most responsibilities. However, sometimes he assigns the others tasks he usually does. They are a team after all and it's more effective to divide and conquer.

 

Hansol nodded. “Yeah, I didn’t really look at the food in the market, but they seemed pretty good too.” He passed over the watch to Seungkwan who took off his sunglasses to properly inspect it. He was very circumspect and gentle when handling it, Hansol grinned at how talented Seungkwan was when it came to this ordeal. “How much would you say, Kwan?”

Seungkwan continued to scrutinize the watch before he closed it gently, grimacing when a bit of dirt fell off from it and onto the jeans he was wearing. “We’ll make a profit off of it for sure. How much was it?”

“The guy selling it to me gave it to me for ten dollars.”

“Whoa,” Chan gasped as he looked up from his camera. He was scanning through the pictures that he took not only today but throughout the week. “That’s a really good price, Hyung.”

“All we need is to clean it up a bit and we can probably sell it for more than a hundred. Easily.” They all high fived before Seungkwan pulled the paper bag closer to him to look over the other antiques. Hansol squealed and mentioned how he should be more careful with the bag since the material was paper.

Rolling his eyes, Seungkwan agreed to it and hummed to himself. “Did anyone buy food for tonight, by the way?” He looked up at both of his friends who pretended not to hear the question. He took the inkling of silence that neither of them even thought of buying anything for dinner. “Guys,” Seungkwan grunted in annoyance. 

“Hyung, you’re way better at organizing than either of us,” Chan replied back as Hansol nodded in agreement. It was silent as they cleaned up and stood up from the wooden ground beneath them. The sky was still illuminated with the remaining light the sun emitted from the horizon. They stretched before walking together off of the pier, noticing the crowd of people walking towards them. “Guess it’s popular hour?” Chan asked aloud as the others nodded.

Hansol pulled out his phone to call for a car to their tenement. “It should be here in ten.”

Seungkwan whistled. “That’s quicker than usual.”

“They’re probably already nearby.”

“Oh,” Chan smiled. “That’s convenient.” He glanced and noticed how Hansol and Seungkwan were back on their phones. Chan sighed. He joined in and checked his phone as well, blinking at how he suddenly got a text from Hansol asking where he was. “Hyung, did you really send me a text just now?”

Hansol looked up and pulled the earphone out of his left ear. “Pardon?” Chan repeated his question as Hansol rose an eyebrow, leaning over and reading the text himself. “Oh, I sent that like two hours ago. Guess you just got the message.”

“That’s what happens when you don’t have reliable wi-fi,” Seungkwan snickered to himself. Chan whined as the other two snickered. “Hey, maybe we’ll have enough money after this trip to get a new phone for you when we get back home.” Chan pouted. “Hey,” Seungkwan patted Chan’s shoulder after putting his phone away, “you really need to get a new phone.”

“What’s wrong with my phone?” 

“It sucks,” Hansol admitted as Chan frowned. “No, seriously. Nobody has a flip phone anymore and your reception is so terrible that you don’t get our messages or calls on time.”

Chan mumbled to himself how they’re both slaves to technology as Hansol received a notification from his phone that the car arrived near them. They looked around for the license plate match that Hansol’s phone displayed and ran towards the car that just drove pass them. Opening the doors, Hansol sat in the front as Chan and Seungkwan sat in the back. The three of them greeted the driver politely, but the two in the back remained quiet as Hansol talked to the driver.

It’s not that the two were shy, but they weren’t comfortable speaking a language they still struggled to understand. Hansol was fluent in it anyway. They’d rather let him talk to others.

“You guys live here?” the driver asked.

Hansol shook his head as the other two were trying to comprehend the conversation from the back seat. “We’re just here for a couple of more days before we head back home.”

The driver hummed in interest. “Where is home?”

“Korea,” Hansol answered.

“Oh, your English is really good,” the driver complimented. “Did you grow up here?”

“I grew up on the other coast.” They laughed as Hansol continued to talk about his childhood to the driver as Chan was trying to interpret the conversation in his head. He was always fascinated at how quick and easy Hansol talked to others, regardless of the language.

Looking out the window, Seungkwan was distracted by the background music coming from the car’s radio supplemented by the passing of trees and other cars outside. He turned to Chan and whispered. “What are they saying?”

Chan shrugged. “Well, knowing Hyung, he’s probably talking about his childhood and how he lived here until he was five. You know, what he tells everyone we meet here.”

Seungkwan snickered and nodded. “He really does tell that to everyone. I think he told the lady at the grocery store last Thursday the story and we held up the line. Which is funny because they were both talking in Korean.”

“Languages are strange,” Chan concluded. “But I think I like it here compared to Hyung’s hometown. It’s warmer.”

“The weather or the people?”

“Both.” They continued their quiet laughter before the car parked in front of their place. Easily, Chan and Seungkwan thanked their driver as Hansol said a longer farewell before climbing out and closing the door behind him. Carrying their belongings to the front door, Seungkwan pulled the keys out of his pocket to unlock the door.

The place seemed cleaner than they left it, probably because their host hired someone to do so. Seungkwan grumbled annoyed since he hated when people rummaged through their stuff, unintentionally or not. Hansol and Chan went to their respective rooms after dropping their stuff on top of the coffee table in the living room. Seungkwan went straight to the kitchen. He checked the fridge and pulled out the leftovers in the containers on the top shelf. “You guys good with leftovers?” he asked aloud. He went towards the cabinets to grab plates when they both shouted a ‘yes’ in unison. 

As the food warmed up, Seungkwan tilted his laptop screen up to play music from it. Hansol came out changed into a hoodie and sweats as he went to grab the bag of antiques and set them down on the island in the center of the kitchen. Just as he held them hovering over the table, the bottom of the bag ripped. Hansol and Seungkwan whistled together at how that was a close call.

“That’s what happens when you get a paper bag,” Seungkwan hummed as he sipped his water before placing it back on the coaster near his laptop. Hansol rolled his eyes and looked over to see Seungkwan tabulating the items, it’s cost, and how much they were to sell it for profit. He smiled and patted Seungkwan’s back before heading to the fridge to grab his own drink. 

“Whoa,” Hansol blinked.

“What?” Seungkwan asked as his eyes were still glued to his screen and his hands still typing away on the keyboard.

“What the hell is this?” the other asked as he pulled out a juice container with an unfamiliar substance inside. It had a brownish-red tint to it and it was translucent in appearance. He shoved it in front of Seungkwan’s face, pulling his face back form the screen. “When did we buy this?”

Seungkwan pushed it to the side and away from his nose before shrugging. “Ask Chan? It looks like juice.” He watched as Hansol, surprisingly, went to bring the juice to Chan’s room to ask. Seungkwan snickered. Hansol usually didn’t care about these sort of things but he seemed to be wanting to hear more and more answers more often than usual. “Maybe that’s what happens when you travel without an itinerary,” Seungkwan mumbled to himself.

Hansol knocked on Chan’s door to find Chan sitting on his bed with his laptop in front of him. He had his camera plugged into the outlet next to him as he was looking through the pictures on his screen. Chan smiled and invited the other inside, patting the spot next to him. Hansol sat near him and placed the juice container in Chan’s lap. “What the hell is this?”

Chan looked at Hansol confused. “What? Why are you asking me?”

“Seungkwan said it was yours.”

Chan shook his head. “No, you definitely bought it.”

“What?” Hansol asked in disbelief.

“Well, okay, I was there when you bought it, but you were the one who paid for it and said you were going to try it. We got it like two days ago.” Chan blinked and saw Hansol was still confused. Chan pushed his laptop forward and lifted the container to examine it with his full attention. “Wow, there really isn’t any label or anything.”

“I know, that’s why I have no idea what it is.” 

Chan daringly unscrewed the cap and sniffed it from the top of the container, grimacing. “Oh gosh—”

“What!—”

“—it smells like red ginseng.” Chan passed it to Hansol for him to take a whiff of and groaned in annoyance when Hansol hummed how good it smelled. “You’re so weird.”

“It reminds me of my grandma’s house,” Hansol hummed before he took a sniff. Chan pretended to gag as he went back to his laptop and Hansol grinned at how good it was. “Oh yeah,” Hansol snapped his fingers in his free hand before taking another sip. “The auntie at that one grocery store sold it to us the other day. Wow, that’s interesting how I just remembered it…”

“Well, smell is the most common sense linked to memory,” Chan said. “Or, so I’ve heard.”

“It makes sense,” Hansol commented. He laughed as Chan attempted to push him off the bed. Hansol stood up and mentioned how he should start getting packed up before they head back home. 

Chan waved him off. “Yeah, I’ll get on it tonight. Just let me edit in peace without that ginseng infiltrating my room.” Hansol waved before walking back to the kitchen. He saw the food cooling down on the counter near the microwave surrounded by plates and utensils. 

“You going to eat, Kwan?” Hansol asked as he got his own plate and started putting the leftovers on it, still holding the ginseng juice in his other hand. 

“Maybe later,” Seungkwan muttered. “I still have to find out how we’re going to sell these before we head back on the plane in two days.” Hansol nodded and stood next to Seungkwan before pulling the bar stool nearby and sitting in that instead. “Also, tickets to Shanghai from Incheon are pretty cheap in the next month. We can head there next.”

“Sounds good,” Hansol nodded as he chewed with an open mouth. Seungkwan pushed his face away at how disgusting the chewing from his mouth sounded. “We can talk about it tonight. Maybe we can go to Hong Kong again? Heard Junhui hyung is stationed there for work so we have a place to crash there.”

“Not sure if Hyung would let us if he knew we resell things,” Chan said as he walked into the kitchen at the smell of the food. He grabbed his own plate of food and another just for Seungkwan. He placed it next to the laptop before pulling another stool to sit on Seungkwan’s other side. Seungkwan thanked Chan who grinned before eating his own food. 

“I mean, we aren’t only  _ just _ middlemen,” Hansol tried to argue. “We also sell your photos.”

“Yeah,” Seungkwan snickered, “because tourists are suckers for—what was the phrase?— _ places they’ve never been and people they’ve never met. _ ” Hansol laughed along with Seungkwan as Chan’s cheeks were full of food. “But your pictures are nice, Chan,” Seungkwan reassured. “That’s why they sell so well.”

Chan smiled to himself as Seungkwan closed his laptop and pushed it away as he pulled his plate of food in front of him. The three continued their dinner and their conversation as the outside no longer emitted natural light. The light from the ceiling light fixture in the living room and the corridor to the bedrooms was enough to brighten the atmosphere. The open floor plan was something they weren’t used to, but grew to love. 

They all brought their luggages and belongings out into the living room as they started packing together. Seungkwan was checking on their listings as he was wrapping their newly cleaned antiques nicely and into packaging boxes. Hansol played music from his phone to accompany them all since Seungkwan would rather focus on the listings. He was also arranging the itinerary for tomorrow and the day after for their departure. Chan was folding their clothes and humming along to the songs. This was their usual grind when their visitation came close to an end. It was always bittersweet, but they knew they couldn’t stay at a place for too long, especially one where only one of them was comfortable speaking to the locals.

Hansol stood up to get more ginseng juice and yelped as he almost tripped over the luggages in front of him. He quickly regained his balance and frowned with red cheeks as his friends snickered at him. He grumbled as he made his way to the fridge before coming back with a tall glass of the ginseng. “I’m not as limber as I used to be.”

Seungkwan chortled. “Wow, shut up. You’re only in your early twenties. We are not  _ that _ old.” Hansol mimicked Seungkwan’s words in a higher register before taking a sip and going back to his work. After writing the address label on the package, Seungkwan stacked the three boxes together. “I think we can send these out tomorrow. I can’t believe people are actually into these things.”

“Well, I mean if Hansol is into that disgusting juice, people must be interested in other weird things,” Chan pointed out as Hansol whined before taking another sip. “I can’t believe… this is how we make a living though.” The other two looked at the younger one who was pondering while focusing on folding their jeans. “This is… this is alright, right? Our way of living.”

Hansol shrugged. “We aren’t really hurting or scamming anyone. I mean, Kwan really looks up the actual retail price of these things so we are being honest.”

“But we’re just travelling and not… really doing anything?” Chan shook his head. “I don’t know if I’m making sense, actually. I just feel that we could be doing more.”

Seungkwan pouted over at Chan. “We could be, that’s true. But we are doing what we’re doing now, and nothing’s wrong with that.” Hansol nodded in agreement. “Maybe we’ll find something when we go back home. I mean, Sol is still trying to sell his lyrics and beats and you’re trying to get your photography career going. Everything takes time.”

“Yeah… I guess… What about you, Hyung?”

“Me?” Seungkwan asked. Chan nodded. Seungkwan looked down at his laptop and sighed. “I’m not really sure.” He shrugged his shoulders before smiling at the other two. “I like what I’m doing with you two so far though. And that’s just enough for me for the time being.” They all smiled at each other as Seungkwan sighed. “Also, I think I’d like to come back to this city.”

“Really?” Hansol asked in surprise. “I thought you said this city was filled with fake people…”

“I said that the first day,” Seungkwan admitted, “but that’s only because the people at the airport kept pushing and shoving me and I was hungry since we didn’t eat lunch yet.” Hansol and Chan laughed as Seungkwan smiled. “I like this city though. The only people I really care about anyway are you two.”

Chan cooed. “Aww, Hyung.”

“Okay, okay, don’t say anything else or I might start tearing up.” Seungkwan pretended to wipe his eyes with the hem of his shirt. They all went back to their respective duties, sharing memories they made over the past few days in the City of Angels. 

They’ve been doing this for almost two years now: travelling around the world, making profit over one stranger’s trash and selling it as treasure to others, and improving on their hobbies along the way. But throughout their journeys and adventures, throughout the cities they’ve explored, captured, and adapted to, they realized it never really mattered where they went or how long they stayed. As long as they kept each other company and in check, they could do anything.

**Author's Note:**

> i went through... so many drafts... but i made this while listening to 'ocean avenue' and 'great escape' (wow, i know, typical 00's americano life) so i hope it gives off that kind of willy-nilly-no-care-in-the-world-but-kindof sorta vibes. shoutout to the admins and other participants of this fic fest! i always enjoy participating in these fests and looking at other peoples writings/artworks so be sure to check out their work too!! //
> 
> shout out to my partners for beta-ing this for me and also motivating me when i got into a writer's block ;w;


End file.
